Memento Mori: The Final Chapters
by fangirl05
Summary: The mantle has been passed to me. So here y'all are.
1. Chapter 1

Ciel's brows furrowed at the cleric's words, and at the chord of familiarity they struck within him. He felt certain that he had heard the phrase spirit photography thrown around before, but not recently enough that he could call up what it entailed.

"I admit I don't know very much about it offhand, Mr. Oswald" he answered. Oswald nodded and pushed his glasses a bit further up his nose.

"Many believe that spirits can be captured in photographs" he explained, "Some go as far as to say that photographs and cameras can imprison a man's very soul. Perhaps the Talbot camera can be used as such. Given its history, it may well increase our chances of drawing it out than an ordinary camera."

Ciel nodded. He had considered such a course of action briefly himself. He tried to keep his thoughts from diverting to that particular topic too often; he could never be quite sure what exactly the Beast was hearing inside his head and he didn't want to risk it becoming aware of his possible plans of action.

"You intend to draw the Beast out of me this way?" he asked the cleric, the latter of whom nodded.

"I'm not wholly convinced that it will work, however" he admitted somewhat uncomfortably, "Do you think you would be willing to try?"

Ciel nodded. "If it's our best chance to get this thing out of me, I am more than willing. Sebastian," he turned his attention to the butler, "The camera is in a drawer in my office. Bring it in here." He coughed suddenly, a short and loud bark. Clearing his throat, he added, "And be quick about it."

Sebastian nodded and shut the door behind him as he saw himself out.

When he returned to the library, Evan Oswald was unconscious and his master appeared to be suffering a violent seizure.

He set the camera down only slightly carefully on the desk before kneeling beside the young earl. He tried to restrain his writhing by placing his hands on his shoulders. That served only minimal good; while some of Ciel's neck and chest were held still, his head, arms and legs still spasmed madly.

"Young master!" Sebastian yelled, not understanding why being in contact with him wasn't stopping this episode in itself. The earl's wide, unseeing eye bulged. At the sound of the butler's voice, Ciel's body jerked once more and a thick, oily cloud belted out of his mouth. Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the sludgy mass; something about it set his hair bristling.

An occasional flash of dark blue pulsed here and there throughout the cloud as the last of it wound its way out of Ciel's throat. Sebastian got to his feet and positioned himself between it and his master as it reshaped into a an ellipse about as long as the butler was tall.

As the lower end of it touched the carpet, the sludgy mass began to divert into a vaguely humanoid form, then to smooth and darken and lighten into something recognizable. It had a long, elfish face with features a little too long and thin to be a woman's and enormous skeletal hands. Its skin was an unpleasant yellowish white, something like spoiled milk. Its long dark hair culminated in a widow's peak at the center of its high forehead. The only parts of it left uncovered by it incredibly close-fitting black robe were its hands and face. It almost looked clerical, Sebastian thought, in a sinister sort of way.

It tilted its head to either side until its neck cracked and then finally opened its solid black eyes. It raised an eyebrow at Ciel's body and complained, "It's unbearably cramped in that thing." Even through the thick layer of disgust, its voice had a peculiar cadence to it.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes in annoyance at the Beast's words. His fingers flexed with the desire to reach for the knives in his coat, but he forced himself to stay his hand. There had to be a reason the Beast was revealing itself like this.

Speaking of the Beast, it noticed Sebastian's movement and curled its lip at him. Before the butler could ready himself, he was pinned spread-eagle against the far wall.

"I wouldn't try to raise a hand against me, demon" it growled as it stalked toward him, "It will kill the boy."

Sebastian's gaze shot to Ciel's body. His eyes were open and unblinking. Angrily, he turned his attention back to the Beast. "What is it you've done?" he demanded.

"Nothing you need to fret about" it answered testily, "His soul is still attached to his body." Here it smiled cruelly. "As it is to me. You see, demon," it stopped smiling, "the only way I can manifest on this plane is to project my own image around another soul." It watched its right hand turn over in mild interest. "I must admit, I'm impressed by his strength of will. Even now he is able to maintain his personality."

"Why have you appeared now?" Sebastian asked, not in the mood for games. The Beast glared straight through his eyes and out the back of his head.

"Up until now you've provided me with both annoyance and entertainment with your futile attempts to dispel me," it said and angrily narrowed its eyes, "but as of late that balance has been leaning ever further toward annoyance. I felt it might be time to speak to you in person, entity to entity."

Sebastian slid down the wall until his feet hit the floor. Now that the playing field was equal, he appraised his opponent with fresh eyes and realized that the Beast was actually a good few inches shorter than him. His impressment with it was further lessened by this realization. "This is your true form?" he asked somewhat disbelieving. The Beast shrugged.

"I can appear however I so choose. This" - it nodded at its false body - "is merely a flight of fancy. Now as I was saying:" Its expression darkened. "Surrender what is rightfully mine, and you will have however many souls you want in exchange." It raised its left hand at the elbow as it spoke. "I can conjure countless essences in less time than to think." As it spoke, three spheres of light - one purple, one blue, one green - appeared and orbited around its fingers.

"I thought this was established during our first exchange" Sebastian returned, "My answer remains the same. You have nothing to offer me that I want. I desire only my young master's soul."

The Beast narrowed its eyes again and clenched its fist. The spheres of light evaporated. "I've been much more abiding to you than I should have been" it growled, "I assumed you would be able to dissolve this bond quickly enough yourself, but I've clearly overestimated you. When that boy next wakes up he won't allow you in the same room with him!"

"Wait," Sebastian cut it off, "what do you mean? Why would I further try to break my young master's attachment to me?"

The Beast blinked in surprise, then bared its teeth in a mimicry of a smile. "And therein lies the source of my amusement" it gloated. "Mull that over for a bit" it casually flicked its wrist, "I need a rest from this one's yowling at me to leave him."

With that, the man became a cloud of smoke that disappeared again down Ciel's throat. His eyes fluttered shut and his breathing restarted at a frantic pace, prompting Sebastian to hurry back to his side. He lifted the earl's smaller body partway off the floor, tilting his head back to keep his airway clear. The boy stirred briefly after several moments, then lapsed into sleep.

Evan Oswald had awakened almost simultaneously as the Beast had retreated back into Ciel's body. Sebastian settled the unconscious earl in his wingback chair and turned his attention back to the vicar, asking to know what had happened when he'd left the room.

"The earl simply looked at me and smiled once the door was shut" he answered simply but honestly, "I suddenly felt exhausted, and then my legs simply failed me. Do you have any idea what happened while I was unconscious?"

Sebastian recounted the experience for the vicar. "It reinstated its previous ultimatum, only this time offered me compensation in exchange for his soul."

"What sort of compensation?" Oswald asked. He had been wringing his hands for several minutes. The thought that the Beast had physically been in the same room with him while he was unable to protect either himself or the earl was disconcerting to him.

"However many souls I wanted" Sebastian admitted, "I refused once again, and this time my refusal seemed to anger it. But I believe we are making progress in our efforts to dispel its presence."

"I have to agree" Ciel sounded from his chair, sounding completely alert. Oswald jumped up at the sound of his voice.

"Are you all right, earl?" he asked all in a fluster. He had always had a sort of a protective instinct toward children, and the young man's higher social standing had not lessened it. His brows furrowed in confusion at Ciel's words before the boy could answer. "What do you mean? What are the both of you thinking?"

"This is not the first time the Beast has interrupted us," Ciel explained, "as we are all aware. This is, however, the first time it has interrupted prior to our attempt to remove it. I believe it only acted now because it fears the Talbot camera."

Oswald nodded in understanding. It did make sense that the Beast would actively try to derail them only now that they were close to doing it any real harm. The vicar was quiet for a few moments, stewing in his own thoughts, and then looked up at the butler.

"There is still one thing I don't understand" he said, "You claim to fairly powerful, don't you, Sebastian?"

"Yes" the latter allowed, not completely sure where he was going. "Why do you ask?"

"So I presume that it would be very difficult for anything to latch onto the earl's soul. Not that you would allow it, of course."

"Under no circumstances" Sebastian agreed. Oswald wasn't sure if the demon's gaze swiveled quickly toward the earl or not.

"Then my question is this:" He looked directly at Ciel.

"How did this thing get into you?"

The earl's eyes widened noticeably at the vicar's question. Even Sebastian startled a bit, specifically at his master's possible reaction. Oswald took it all to mean he'd said something extremely wrong.

"I ask only to know the method, if one may exist" he explained himself quickly, "Perhaps doing the opposite of what drew it in will expel it."

Ciel exhaled loudly through his nose. "I suppose you have earned the answer to that."

The cleric listened through Ciel's explanation with increasing horror. The one small consolation he felt was the knowledge that Sebastian had personally eradicated that heathen cult.

"Even now I bear the Mark of the Beast" Ciel finished and steepled his fingers, "It keeps it tied to me, and keeps me unable to fulfill my obligation to Sebastian."

Oswald swallowed and blinked his eyes several times to clear the tears away. "I am... I'm so sorry, earl" he finally managed. He had never felt so at a loss for words before. A thought came to him after he cleared his throat:

"Perhaps... Removing the mark somehow might lessen the Beast's power further."

Ciel considered the cleric's words silently for a moment, then quietly but firmly answered, "I'd rather not."

"If my master disagrees, I will not stand against him" Sebastian agreed. Oswald nodded. In truth, he was very glad that the earl had turned his plan down. He had no idea why or how he'd suggested such a course of action in the first place. It had made him feel slightly nauseated to do so.

The man sighed and stood from his seat. "Well," he straitened his glasses, "if you will excuse me, sirs, I must take my leave. Here, earl."

He placed a small wooden crucifix on Ciel's desk. The earl drew back slightly in his seat, looking from the interlocking blocks of what might have been pine wood to the vicar as if he were deranged. "Does the fact that I consort with demons not say enough about my standing in matters of faith?" he asked. Behind them both, Sebastian smirked.

"I understand" Oswald answered with a noticeable flush in his cheeks, "Still, if it will not trouble Sebastian, I feel it wouldn't hurt just to have around."

Ciel sighed. "All right," he agreed unhappily, "I'll hang onto it until tomorrow. Until then I'll try to think of something to hold the Beast in check while the photograph is being taken."

"I will do the same" Oswald promised. "Good night, earl."

He turned to Sebastian when he was stood in the doorway. "Would you see me out, Sebastian?"

With a glance over his shoulder at the young, who offered a nod of confirmation, Sebastian nodded, "Very well."

Oswald didn't speak up until he and the butler had reached the end of the main foyer. He then turned rather abruptly and stared intensely at Sebastian. "I don't intend to sit passively while you and master Ciel risk your lives" he declared, "I must know any and all ways a human may subdue a demon beyond exorcism."

Sebastian nodded. He had to admit, this priest had uncommon grit.

"While it will not cause the Beast any real harm," he answered, "I believe your best choice to keep it away will be salt."

"Salt" Oswald repeated flatly. As a man of faith, he found it terribly disappointing that a common seasoning would be of more help than something that had been properly blessed. Still, he decided not to argue with Sebastian over it; Who better to ask a way to keep demons at bay than a demon?

Sebastian nodded in confirmation. "Salt draws any surrounding moisture out of the air, which then becomes very dry and susceptible to electric charge" he elaborated, "Incorporeal demons, including the Beast, draw so much energy from the world around them that to come in contact with such a dry air pocket might cause them to combust. It will have no choice but to stay away, unless it is willing to risk its own death in order to land a blow."

Oswald nodded, but he still had to ask, "What about holy water?"

"It's more of an allergen than a real threat to us" Sebastian explained, "I think it best not to bother with it at all."

"I see." Oswald sighed. The smile on his face when his raised his eyes from his shoes was tired. "Well, then, I will see you both tomorrow morning." With a quick nod of his head, the cleric all but ran out the front door.

Ciel was not in the library when Sebastian returned. This fact didn't worry Sebastian. What did worry him, however, was the sound of running water in the bathroom.

He found the door unlocked when he tested the knob. Ciel was standing over the tub with his hand on the hot water knob, watching the tub fill. "Young master?" Sebastian called curiously. The former looked up at the sound of his title.

It was him. The demon was sure.

"You were lagging" Ciel explained. "I decided to draw my bath myself."

"I apologize" Sebastian said, oddly disappointed in the earl's independent act. "I will resume my work from here."

Ciel easily turned the activity over to Sebastian. The demon found it gratifying, but also confusing. Ciel didn't seem willing to wait for him to draw his bath, but put up no fight when he resumed responsibility for it. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to make of all this. And what of what the Beast said? What was he doing that might be weakening the bond Ciel felt to him?

The earl noticed his butler's pensive silence, but didn't speak up until the demon was massaging shampoo into his hair:

"What is it you're thinking so hard about?"

"Several things" Sebastian answered vaguely before elaborating, "My conversation with the Beast this afternoon, what Oswald might be planning. And you."

Ciel raised his eyebrow. "What about me?"

Sebastian placed his hand against the boy's hairline. The latter tilted his head back out of habit as Sebastian rinsed his hair.

"The Beast told me that when you awakened, you wouldn't allow me in the same room with you, yet you seem to have had no trouble with my presence today."

Ciel shrugged. "I haven't heard or felt anything from the Beast since that episode in the library. I expected you had done something to it that you'd been keeping from me."

"That's the other topic I was thinking on." Sebastian paused in his rinsing Ciel's body. He waited until Ciel turned toward him suspiciously before explaining.

"What is it, specifically, that you doubt about me?"

Ciel couldn't make himself look directly at Sebastian. Something about the butler's eyes on him was a bit more than he could handle at the moment. Almost grumpily he muttered, "How do you mean?"

"The Beast implied that I might be weakening your bond with me. I suspect that that can only mean that I am inadvertently giving you reason to be suspicious of me in some way, and I don't know that the Talbot Camera can be used effectively if you do not fully trust me. So I must know, what do you not believe in, in regards to my motives?"

Ciel held his gaze for a few moments, then swiped the suds off his body with his right hand and rose from the tub. "Dry me off" he ordered.

Sebastian frowned, but retrieved a towel anyway and knelt in front of him. Ciel watched the butler dab his right arm dry from shoulder to fingertips and repeat the action for his left. Sebastian was halfway through drying his torso when he finally spoke up:

"I think I don't trust your desire for me."

Sebastian paused in his work and looked up at the boy in confusion. The latter's expression was steady, but distant and sort of dark. "What do you mean?"

"I don't feel sure of why you want to touch me. Is it me that you want, or do you only want my soul, and think that this is the surest way to get it? Or do you touch me simply because think you have no other option than to do so?"

Sebastian stared him down seriously. These were all perfectly good causes for him to be uneasy, but by all means they had to be assuaged. He straightened a bit and put his hands on the earl's shoulders.

"Your soul has been promised to me for three years now" he began, "I have no doubts that I will receive it in due course. As for whether I feel obligated to touch you..."

He lifted one hand to the boy's right cheek and leaned closer, as if to kiss him. Ciel tilted his head back, expecting him to follow through, but he stopped short. Sebastian's thumb skimmed over the apple of Ciel's cheek.

"You seem to be aware of my... Habits, shall we say?" he just about purred, "And I know you do not approve of them. I'm sure that if I was only interested in physical gratification, I would be able to indulge without your ever being the wiser."

The arm still on Ciel's shoulder rubbed slow circles around it. "I do not stray because I see no point in going so far for pleasure..." - he stroked down the length of his arm - "When I have a much finer specimen at my disposal right here."

Ciel shoved them apart. His face twisted in disgust and anger. "Don't speak to me as if I were some harlot you would pick up off the back streets" he growled, "I am not your plaything, demon."

Sebastian rose to his full height and stared down at the earl through narrowed eyes. He could be such a frustrating brat sometimes!

"Why are you still resisting so adamantly?" he demanded, "You have admitted that you desire me, young master, so why will you not accept me now?"

"Because you just admitted that you could sneak off to cavort with prostitutes without my ever knowing!"

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, but that reminded him of something:

"I have told you multiple times that I will never lie to you. You have never questioned that until this all started."

Ciel sighed. "That you would never lie to me was a stipulation of the contract" he explained, "Now that the terms have been met, there's nothing to stop you from lying to me."

"What must I say to make you believe that I will not?" Sebastian knelt in front of him in his usual way. Rather than bow his head, he held his gaze steadily. "How must I convince you that I truly desire you, not only your soul?"

Ciel didn't answer him. He turned his head away, but made no move to distance himself from the demon. Then, after almost a minute of silence, he spoke.

"If I said yes, what would you do at the end?"

Sebastian stroked the back of his fingers against the cheek nearest him. "What is it that you think I would do?"

Ciel exhaled quietly. "I have no idea."

He cupped his hands around the boy's hips and rubbed gentle circles around the tops of his pubic bones until he met his gaze, albeit from the corners of his own eyes.

"May I show you?"

Ciel shifted his gaze away from the butler wordlessly. Sebastian turned his face forward gently with his right hand. The earl's continuing refusal to look at him didn't stop him from kissing him gently.

To his immense surprise, Ciel's hands came up to his shoulders and his smaller tongue flicked across the seam of his own mouth. Sebastian sucked it gratefully and lifted first the earl's right leg around his hip, followed quickly by the other. The earl tensed the muscles of his thighs to prevent himself from slipping down. Sebastian splayed his hands across his back to support him as he lowered him to the ground. Ciel hissed in obvious discomfort, and Sebastian leaned back to find out why.

Ciel nodded in the general direction of lower left. "The floor's cold" he explained curtly. Sebastian smiled and smoothed his hand down the young earl's chest.

"Shall we adjourn to your bed, then?"


	2. Chapter 2

Oswald poured a line of salt as thick around as a man's wrist around the specified area. Although it hadn't been agreed on the night before, Sebastian placed a mirror behind the chair Ciel would be sitting in.  
"Simply an extra precaution" he explained to Oswald when asked, "If the camera does draw the Beast out of my young master, it should be drawn into the mirror."  
Oswald nodded in understanding. He shook the last few grains of sand out of the bag against the wall, closing off any escape rout the Beast might have otherwise had. He and Sebastian then set to binding Ciel's arms and legs to those of the chair with belts, a course of action meant as damage control in case the Beast decided to interfere again. After sealing Sebastian and Ciel into the escape-proof semi-ellipse, the vicar lifted the cover off of the Talbot camera. "Ten seconds" he told them after activating it. Sebastian placed one of his hands over Ciel's and the other on the boy's far shoulder. They stared at each other intently as the seconds passed. Oswald watched the exchange between butler and earl suspiciously. He was willing to tolerate Sebastian's presence if it would benefit Ciel, but he knew he could not, and more importantly would not, ignore it should their relationship prove to be anything more than platonic.  
So immersed in his thoughts was the cleric that the camera flash made him physically jump off the ground. Acting quickly, Sebastian unbound one of his master's wrists and covered all the sources of light in the room with red lenses. A tub of developing fluid had been placed on the earl's desk prior to Oswald's arrival. The vicar pressed the photograph to the bottom of the tub. All three men watched as the image began to come into focus. Sure enough, the Beast as it had appeared to Sebastian was there in the mirror, grimacing down at the pair angrily.  
Oswald swished the finished photo in the tub of water next to the developing fluid after the appropriate amount of time had passed. After removing the red lenses from the lamps in the room, Sebastian picked up the photo for a closer look. The Beast suddenly turned its head toward him with murder in its face. Sebastian wasn't inclined to drop it until a searing flash of heat blared in the tips of his forefinger and thumb, as if they had been held too close to an open candle.  
On the floor the picture started shivering and the same black smog that had risen out of Ciel writhed into the air. Oswald pressed the young earl's body against the wall, putting himself between the boy and the Beast. The protection didn't seem to be necessary, though. When the Beast's corporeal form materialized out of the smoke, its homicidal eyes were only for Sebastian.  
"You miserable cur" it growled at him, and then launched itself at the butler with enough force to propel them both out the window.

Sebastian and the Beast landed on the front terrace with a sickening crunch. There was a huge crack in the marble and a chunk of the steps missing, but neither entity seemed any worse for wear. Sebastian had a set of knives held between the fingers of his hands. The Beast's previously humanoid nails had grown and darkened into curving black talons.  
"Stay inside!" Sebastian called to the humans. He turned his head halfway toward them as he spoke. The Beast tensed and shifted slightly to the side, then disappeared.  
A set of slices materialized in Sebastian's suit at the base of his shoulder and the side of his ribcage. He ducked as the Beast stabbed its fingertips into the space where his throat had been had a moment ago and swept it into the air. With a roar of outrage the Beast crashed into the fountain, sending a small torrent sloshing over the side. When it crawled out of the water, its body was dry as an old bone. It narrowed its eyes at Sebastian and cracked a crick out of its neck before starting toward the butler again.  
It meant to, anyway. In reality, it tried to take a step forward only to find itself frozen in place.  
"I bind you, Noble Beast, from doing harm, harm upon others and harm upon yourself."  
Oswald was standing at the top of the veranda, flanked closely on his right by Ciel, glaring determinedly at the Beast. In his left hand he held what looked like a piece of black cloth with a red ribbon tied around it. As he began to make his way down the steps, he repeated the chant:  
"I bind you, Noble Beast, from doing harm, harm upon others and harm upon yourself."  
His voice rang out clear and powerful. The Beast fell down on one knee, weakened but still snarling savagely at the cleric. The closer Oswald came to it, the weaker it seemed to grow. When the vicar at last stood over it, it could barely raise its head. Still it swiped weakly at Oswald's robe, across his knees. It didn't manage to so much as unbalance him.  
"I bind you, Noble Beast, from doing harm, harm upon others and harm upon yourself!" Oswald boomed. All the strength in the Beast's arms failed it and it fell gasping like a baited dog at the feet of Oswald and Ciel, who had followed the cleric down the stairs. The Beast made a noise at them that might have been intended as a growl but came out as more of a rough sigh.  
Oswald pocketed the fabric and produced a small, circular white stone in its place and began reciting a new chant in a low, quick tone:  
"I bind your power, Noble Beast, because it is your hour. I bind your power, Noble Beast, because it is your hour. I bind your power, Noble Beast, because it is your hour."  
As he spoke through the first chant, the Beast passed out. Through the second and third recitations, it faded away into nothing. Oswald held onto the stone for a few seconds, until it became too hot to touch. Sebastian picked it up and stared at it thoughtfully for a few moments before addressing him.  
"I appreciate what this must have been for you" he said respectfully, "A man of faith turning to Pagan practices for aid."  
Oswald smiled ruefully. "I hope that the Lord will one day forgive me," he said, "and that one day I will forgive myself."  
"So this is finally over" Ciel droned, "The Beast is gone."  
"Yes" Oswald nodded, "Gone forever, sealed into that stone."  
Sebastian raised his eyebrow at the stone in question, a little less than the circumference of a piece of eight and about a centimeter deep at the widest, turned it over briefly in his fingers, and promptly swallowed it with a secretive smile at Ciel.

Oswald returned to his church immediately following the exorcism, and life in the house of Phantomhive went on as it did every day.  
Until Sebastian had gotten to fastening the young master's night shirt.  
"I suppose I'll bite" the butler said to break the tense silence in the bedroom, "Why do you seem so despondent? I'd think you would be glad to finally be free of the Beast's influence."  
"I've been a bit preoccupied" Ciel explained shortly, "The Beast is gone. You've held up your end of our contract. You've had all day to hold me to my end, so why haven't you yet?" The boy's blue eye darkened. "Do you plan to do it now, so it will look as if I died in my sleep?"  
Sebastian smiled and bowed in his usual style. "I plan only to platonically share the young master's bed tonight, if he will allow it."  
Ciel frowned in confusion at his request, but nodded. "All right."  
Sebastian turned down the blankets and waited for Ciel to make himself comfortable before removing his shoes, jacket and waistcoat and joining him.  
"The young master is most generous" he joked with a bright smile, at which Ciel frowned.  
"And he'll change his mind about this unless he's given a straight answer" he retorted sharply. His face suddenly softened, as did his voice when he continued:  
"What will you do now, Sebastian?"  
Sebastian pulled Ciel into his side, a genuine smile on his face.  
"I have you in all ways I want you for the moment. The rest can keep."

* * *

**A/N: There. Done. *throws away, never to look at again***


End file.
